A celebrity Chinese qi gong master who claimed to conjure snakes from thin air and cure the sick has been held by police on suspicion of kidnapping and murder, reports said yesterday. Wang Lin, who gained fame and political admirers throughhis performance ofqi gong, a spiritual martial art, was detained on Thursday over the death of Zou the official Xinhua news agency and other reports said. It is the latest drama in the colourful life of a man who previously threatened a reporter with death for questioning his powers which include retrieving an incinerated banknotein He gained fame in China two years ago when images of his feats were posted online, along with pictures of him posing with celebrities. The self-proclaimed healer was reportedly visited by Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese ecommerce giant for reasons unknown. Pictures also circulated on Chinese social media of Mr Wang with former rail- ways minister Liu Zhijun who was con- victed of corruption and given asuspended death sentence martial arts star Jet Liand various senior officials. Reportsdescribedzou as a"disciple" of Mr Both are from the central prov- ince of Jiangxi, where zou was also a local legislator in Jiangxi.